


Just A Ferb

by bujeetles (Oboeist3)



Series: Elijah's Super Awesome Amazing PNF One Shot Writing Challenge of DOOM [3]
Category: Phineas and Ferb
Genre: Coming Out, Ferb-centric, Gen, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-21
Updated: 2016-06-21
Packaged: 2018-07-16 11:58:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7267228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oboeist3/pseuds/bujeetles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ferb decided to come out the afternoon they create a new language.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just A Ferb

**Author's Note:**

> uh i have an explanation for this....im hella trans and project myself on fictional characters...so yea...hope you guys like it!

Ferb decided to come out the afternoon they create a new language. They'd expected it to be a smaller adventure than usual, a little experiment in linguistics, limited to their house or their street. People who cared enough about Phineas, for it was always their little brother who did the convincing, would try it on and then promptly stop by the day's conclusion. Maybe even forget about it entirely. It wasn't a rollercoaster. 

 

But it hadn't turned out like that. Americans, or at least the people of Danville, were so delighted by the language that it practically became de facto in those brief hours. Even the signs were changed, the news people reported on it and in it, and left shoes were scattered from person to person, most never to return to their original owners. 

 

It made Ferb think. If the people of Danville could switch so easily to an entirely new form of communication for a short period of time, maybe, just maybe they could change a few words for a long time. Maybe forever. People were so _nice_ here, and rarely asked hard questions. 

 

It had never been a thought they had entertained before, so lost in thoughts of physics and history and more important things. It didn't matter if people thought they were a boy, right? It wasn't true, but it wasn't a big deal. At least, it didn't used to be. 

 

Ferb had always known they weren't quite what boys were supposed to be. They weren't very brash or brave or reckless. They read and knew things most boys, most people really, didn't know. But the people that mattered didn't care, so neither did Ferb. As they started to grow though, more things were assumed that they didn't want to be, things about what they _should_ be and what they _should_ like. As if they had no say in it. 

 

Then Dad married Linda, who became Mum much more than the woman from the letters ever had been. They moved to America, and met a new family. There was Phineas, a little brother, who instantly loved everything about them, even the ones most didn't, and there was Candace. A girl not like most girls in a way that was eerily familiar. 

 

Ferb soon was equipped with words to describe not only their big sister, but a little bit about them, aside from a very important point. They didn't mind it so much as Candace did. They didn't like it, but there were many things they didn't like but dealt with anyway, like vegetables. 

 

It didn't seem fair to make it a big deal, especially compared to Candace's many anxieties. They never wanted to be the hard child. People already had a problem with them not saying much. That was enough to put on their parents for now, and they were really working on making that better. 

 

By that wonderful summer, they were getting better at talking, but like a proportion, the Gender Thing got worse. It was terribly frustrating, to find a few words so icky and unfitting. Like gum stuck between your fingers, or how your mouth tastes when you first wake up. Sometimes it even got so bad that it stayed around for hours or days. Ferb didn't understand it at all, but it was no fun. 

 

Now they were here, on Ain-merb treet-serb, surrounded by pamphlets with a very convincing font, Candace babbling about how the **boys** had made a new language and everyone was speaking it and oh it wasn't fair! As she was dragged away, Ferb opened their mouth, almost ready to say it right there. But it wasn't the right time. Mum and Candace would be mad for a bit, and they didn't have the words planned out yet. So they closed their mouth and threw away as many pamphlets as they could before the two walked home. 

 

Phineas was still recounting how awesome the day's events had been, under the shade of the oak tree, when the rest of the friends had gone home. Ferb had decided almost immediately that Phineas should be the first they tell. Their best friend in the whole world. If he couldn't do it, well no one could. 

 

"Phineas?" they say eventually, and the torrent of words fall, changed to an expecting gaze. 

 

"Yea Ferb! What is it?" 

 

Suddenly all the plans, all the explanations seem to leave them. They feel so nervous, so scared, that forming something logical and coherent is beyond them. They're silent for so long that Phineas' gaze turns to worry. 

 

"Ferb? Bro, are you ok?" 

 

"I'm not a boy or a girl." they blurt out, so loud it startles them, and they slap hands over their mouth. 

 

"Oh." Phineas says, thinking for a few seconds. "Then what are you?" he asks, not with revulsion or even confusion. Just curiosity. 

 

"I'm just a Ferb." they say, but it doesn't come out like a fact about space or the nature of existence. Instead like a confession, all shame and sadness, and it makes Phineas don a rare frown. 

 

"You say that like its a bad thing! You're pretty awesome, Ferb." he says, wrapping an arm around them, and they haven't cried since the premier of Stumbleberry Finkbat and the Lost Shadow of Darkling Tower , but they come far more easily now. It's just such a relief to tell someone, even if they don't understand everything or anything about it. As long as they have someone who knows. Terrible mushy as that sounds. 

 

When they finally manage to stop crying, Phineas has magically produced a handkerchief, which they greatly appreciate. 

 

"Aw man." Phineas says after a moment, followed by a huffy laugh. "I guess I don't have an older brother anymore!" 

 

Ferb chuckles, ruffling the shorter one's hair. 

 

"I'll never stop being that." they declare, and smile. 


End file.
